


The Warlock Nova

by Pekinaso



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Isolation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29671005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pekinaso/pseuds/Pekinaso
Summary: Nova's Taken abilities have begun to poison her body to the point where she fears even her Ghost will not be able to save her. As the infection spreads, she must find a way to reverse the ill effects and restore her Light before the disease pushes her to her final death.





	1. I

Nova had taken three steps before collapsing onto the snow, shivering with fever. Scorpius manifested above her, his eye somehow displaying his irritation.

“You came out here to freeze to death?” he asked dryly. His Guardian continued to shiver, her breathing worryingly labored, as she clutched her left arm tightly. It was emitting a heavy black smoke, a smoke poisonous enough to have eaten holes through the rag she had used to hide the deformity and stain her gauntlet with Taken goo. Her chest rattled as she sucked in a deep breath of chilled air.

“Self-quarantine.”

The Warlock’s Ghost had been observing her condition closely for months now. He wasn’t sure when the ill effects started to take hold, but he had no doubt that it was likely the work of being exposed to the lunar Pyramid’s dark influences. Or perhaps it was the choking darkness deep within the Pit underneath the Scarlet Keep, where the essences of the Pyramid’s Nightmares were channeled into the repeatedly resurrected Hive Champion, Zulmak? Or maybe, just maybe, it was the exposure to the beautiful yet haunting reality of the Black Garden?

Scorpius had watched his Guardian decline in health since the Dawning, and it only continued. Eventually, Nova had noticed as well, and made further efforts to hide her condition—even from her own Ghost. She hoped that donning armor of silver and chrome would be enough to mask the smoke, but… well, it didn’t.

The Warlock took another shaky breath and reached up towards her helmet, releasing the clasps.

“Air… I need air…”

“Nova, wait, it’s too dangerous to remove your hel—”

The chrome and violet helmet rolled off into the snow as the Voidwalker gasped for air, despite its frigidness. Scorpius was troubled. She looked like death. Her skin was an unhealthy color bordering gray and her eyes had lost their lively shine. But most troubling was the branched tendril of black crawling up her neck and along her left cheek.

“Nova… this is bad…”

“I don’t have long left, do I…?” the Warlock’s voice tapered off. She was certainly dying, succumbing to the Darkness within her body. And it was spreading quickly.

“You have to get back in tune with the Light. It’s the only way.”

Nova rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky, her eyes watering from the sting of the cold wind.

“Io.”

“What?”

“Io. The Light of the Traveler left behind there should solve this problem.” She slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position and reached out her right hand, palm up. Her Ghost floated over to it and made himself comfortable in her palm.

“But that’s a lot of Light, and that could hurt you too. You need something to channel the Light through.”

“Like a shard of the Traveler?”

“Don’t tell me you want to go back into that creepy forest.”

“I would like that shard.” Nova pushed herself up to her feet, pausing for just a moment to collect her helmet. A whooping screech of what was likely a Devil echoed in the distance behind her, just beyond the wall. Though Dusk Fallen had started to inhabit this area, it was still ultimately the Devils’ land. And no doubt it was still crawling with Splicers.

“Nova?” Scorpius piped up suddenly as the Warlock’s ship came down to collect her.

“Yes?”

“Don’t you think that maybe someone could help you out? Someone who knows about this? Someone like—”

“The Drifter? I’d rather he not know about this. Could hurt the tenuous trust we have.”

“You honestly trust him?”

“Look. From what I’ve read, if that man makes a warning, you’ll be damned he’ll follow through with the consequences.”

“You’re afraid.”

“Not as much as you are of that dark forest.”

The Ghost huffed in annoyance, but he did not argue. He and his Guardian transmatted into the ship hovering just above, and began to make their way higher into the atmosphere in order to fly on over to the European Dead Zone. As the ship sped away from the Cosmodrome, Nova leaned back in her seat.

“I’ll get around to telling him. But I’d like to get better first.”


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova ventures into the Taken-plagued Dark Forest in search of a shard of the Traveler.

The trip was largely silent, at least up until the Warlock reached the mysterious portal that led to the fallen shard. She extended her left hand gradually, as if reaching out. Her breathing had become heavy again.

“There’s still Taken forces beyond here,” she muttered, her voice strained. The refreshing effect of the cold snow had worn off. The fever was growing unbearable. “I might be able to use their energy to open the way.”

“Why don’t you use your Void powers instead? You can just Blink past, not to mention the cold abyss would probably help.”

Under her helmet, Nova’s brow furrowed. Scorpius was not yet aware of just how bad the dark power of the Taken had ransacked her.

With a shaky breath, her fingers curled and glowed with a bluish Taken light, and the portal yielded. It burst open with a haunting noise, humming coldly.

“You… shouldn’t be doing that,” Scorpius remarked, a hint of worry in his voice.

“I know. Let’s hurry.”

Nova made her way across the forest with haste, despite her lack of energy. She held fast to her chrome auto rifle, watchful of any enemies in case there were any lingering by. When she came across the next portal, it was already opened. Perhaps it had sensed her somehow? The same thing occurred with the third portal, but rather than stop and question it, the Warlock continued through. She had no time to lose.

The shard loomed before her, partially submerged in water. It hummed quietly with the Light. But at the same time, faint whispers plagued the area. No doubt the Taken still lingered.

“Hurry,” Scorpius whispered sharply. “The shard… doesn’t feel so welcoming this time.”

With a nod, Nova approached the shard and reached out slowly with her right hand. She glided her fingertips across the surface as she walked around it, examining it for cracks or breaks. Though its Light was faint, just being close enough brought the Warlock relief from her condition. Her fever retreated and her strength returned, but the dark power within her retaliated. Her corrupted arm burned, as did the mark staining her neck and cheek. She hissed in pain, wincing.

“Nova!”

Her Ghost’s voice brought her back to reality and she quickened her examination until she found what she wanted. A hole in the shard. She reached into the geode-like opening and grabbed hold of a loose piece. As she removed it, she noted the prism’s weak Light signature, weak enough for the dark to settle and the burning to end. With a sigh of relief, she held out the shard.

“Scorpius, if you would?”

The prism disappeared from her hand, transmatted away. As she began to leave the radius of the shard, the whispers suddenly grew loud.

“Nova, let’s get out of here. Something isn’t right.”

“It’s the Taken, Scorpius. I can handle them.”

“In your condition? You’re already rapidly deteriorating.”

“I said I can handle them.”

Blights formed around the area as several Taken spawned in, screaming into reality. The Psions twitched and split rapidly as they aimed their guns at the Warlock, while the Knights roared in challenge. Slowly, Nova lowered her right arm, intent on focusing her Void energy into the Voidwalker’s signature concentrated bomb. For a moment, the Light did not answer. Time seemed to stop. But then it came surging through her body, running down her arm and collecting in her palm. She breathed a sigh of relief.

But the Darkness would not have it.

Wings of shadow unfurled from her back as shadowy horns, forming ornately like a crown, sprouted from her helmet. A white light formed in place of her helmet’s visor, mimicking the eye of the Taken. As her form was enveloped in Darkness, her fingers glowed with a bluish light, and a twisted sword manifested in her right hand. With a slow movement, she raised the sword up, the blade somehow glowing with Darkness. The Taken before her seemed to back down, though it was not known if it was out of fear or servitude. The Warlock slammed the tip of the sword down into the ground, creating a shockwave of Taken energy that rippled across the grass and the water.

Though the Taken seemed to tremble, they had ultimately given up their will to a master. Slowly, they lowered their guns and knelt before Nova, still twitching erratically. Nova regarded her subjects carefully, ensuring their obedience. Indeed, they were hers now.

Satisfied, the Warlock disappeared in a puff of dark energy that screamed through reality as if she were an echo. When she emerged on the other side, away from the forest, she collapsed onto her knees as the sword and the veil of Darkness surrounding her billowed away in the wind. She panted, struggling to breathe, as she felt the black tendril on her neck slither up her cheek and to her eye whilst branching further and spreading across her face. She weakly reached out her right hand and summoned Scorpius.

He was silent. Uncharacteristically silent. He regarded her with a piercing gaze of mixed emotions. Surprise. Pain. Fear. Anger. She could not bring herself to meet his eye.

The two transmatted into their ship before departing to Io. No words were spoken.


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova flies to Io with the shard of the Traveler in hand in hopes that she can be cured of her blighted condition, knowing the consequences if things go wrong. She only has one shot at survival.

“So…”

Damn it. The silent trip had been going so well.

“I know what you’re going to ask.”

“How long have you been unable to?”

Nova slumped in her seat. She had been trying to avoid this conversation for months.

“I stopped being able to use my Light completely a few weeks ago. Every time I’ve tried… you’ve seen what happens when I do.”

“I didn’t know you had lost your powers. They were less potent, but not gone.”

“I’m surprised you never noticed.”

“Why didn’t you do something about this sooner?”

“I… I’m not sure. Preoccupied, I guess.”

“With what? After you lit the beacon on Mercury’s Lighthouse, you disappeared from the Tower. You hid away on the Dreadnaught.”

Silence. A sense of realization.

“You went to the Dreadnaught for guidance, didn’t you?”

The Warlock did not answer. Scorpius looked away. At that moment, Nova’s ship exited its warp drive, and the once volcanic glowing moon of Jupiter loomed before them. Taking over the controls, Nova piloted the ship down to the Lost Oasis.

The Grove of Ulan-Tan always seemed to hold the answers to mysteries. The Whisper. New abilities of the Light. And now, a cure to her condition.

As she entered the cave, the first thing she noticed was the bodies and remains of several Vex. That was a sure sign that something was off. As she walked through the iridescent pools of “water” and made her way through the winding tunnel, she began to take note that the normally occupied lost sector was empty; there were no traces of Vex or Taken, except a couple of robotic arms and legs strewn about. She passed by a still mostly intact corpse, milky radiolarian fluid leaking from the core on its abdomen.

“What happened here?” she whispered. Scorpius manifested and floated over to the dead Goblin, observing it.

“Let me see,” he wondered aloud as he scanned the body. “Hmm. Looks like the Taken were here.”

“Great.”

“I get the feeling you’re being tested.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

The Warlock was thoroughly disappointed upon reaching the end of the line, and finding no powerful enemy to kill or some mysterious tree calling out to her. She looked around the space as she waded into the pool of “water”, hoping for a sign.

“Any clues, Scorpius?”

The Ghost appeared next to her head and transmatted the prism that Nova had taken from the Traveler’s shard into her right hand.

“Try that. You might be able to use it like a key.”

“I was hoping to filter the Light through this.”

“You’ll still be able to. But first, see if it leads you anywhere.”

Though doubtful, the Voidwalker raised the prism up to see if it would shine some sort of light on the situation. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

“Some key this is.”

“Try using your Light.” This warranted an icy stare from behind Nova’s helmet visor. Scorpius sighed. “Try anyway.”

Focusing her Void powers, she willed it to flow into the prism. She began to weaken rapidly, her knees trembling. Her existing fever flared. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. There was a ringing in her ears. A voice. Scorpius’ voice. He was calling out to her, but he sounded faint and distant. Her eyes rolled back into her head. The tendril on her neck and face pulsated almost angrily. But she held on.

The prism began to glow with Void Light, gradually illuminating the room with a soft but cold purple. Invisible cracks in the wall became aglow with the same Light found deep beneath the Jovian moon’s crust. And that Light responded.

Tendrils of Light cascaded from the cracks, snaking their way towards the prism and the Guardian who held it. Scorpius’ eye seemingly widened in surprise as he backed away just enough to give Nova space. As the Light filled the prism, it began to lose its purple hue in favor of pure white as it began to glow brightly enough for the Warlock to look away. Gentle ribbons of Light began to stream down from the prism and along Nova’s arm, writhing their way across her entire body. Despite this, she felt no pain. No burning. Her dark powers did not retaliate—or maybe they were, but weakly.

A final surge of Light. A voice.

_“The Light lives in all places. In all things.”_

Nova dropped to her knees as the Light slowly died down, the prism becoming dim. Her Ghost floated over to her quickly, intent on ensuring his Guardian was alright.

“Nova? Nova, are you ok? Nova!”

No response—

“...I heard you the first time, Scorpius.” The Ghost’s expression immediately brightened.

“You’re alright! I was worried that the Light—”

“You had every right to worry. That… nearly killed me.”

At first, there had been no pain. But as the strength of the Light increased, that quickly changed. She could almost still feel the searing pain, as if the Light had been focused through a magnifying glass directly on her. Her arm felt like it had been melting. The tendril on her face had squirmed in agony and hatred. Its ends had split repeatedly and branched out quickly, consuming her face and blackening her vision. She had screamed, but there had never been sound. It had felt like the Light would burst from her body, destroying her the same way as it had destroyed Ghaul. Or perhaps, it wasn’t the Light, but the dying screams of the Darkness in her body, bursting from her chest the same way Oryx did as he died his final death.

“But…” the Warlock took a long look at the prism, and tightened her grip on it. Despite the pain, her afflicted arm had ceased its production of smoke and no longer felt painful. The tendril and its branches had burned away into nothingness. “I was able to wield the Light.”

The two were interrupted by the appearance of a major Taken Minotaur, its white eye tinged with yellow. Nova exhaled quietly as she stood up, leaving the prism in the blue liquid in which she stood, though she began to levitate above it. Wings of flame formed on her back as lightning coursed along her arms. Void Light bloomed from her chest. Solar, Arc, and Void energy crackled across her visor. The Taken Minotaur let out a noise akin to a roar and raised its weapon.

“And I intend to use it on you.”


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova comes clean to the Drifter regarding her dark powers. In the aftermath, the two work together to build a Taken energy-regulating device for the Warlock.

Nova had expected a reaction like this. The Drifter yelled at her, scolded her, paced around worriedly while muttering to himself, all while she stood nearby, her head hung like a child being scolded by their father. She smiled under her helmet. A father. That’s what the Drifter felt like to her, especially now.

The Lightbearer took a deep breath and leaned back against a railing, rubbing the corner of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” he asked, exasperated. The Warlock had lost count of how many times he had asked. Ten times? Twenty?

“I understand this puts a target on your back,” she told him. “So I’ve already been keeping my distance.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Almost a year.”

“After you killed that crazy Hunter, right?”

“I didn’t kill him. Leonidas did.”

“Right.” A sigh. “Kid, you’re messing with things you don’t understand.”

“I understand a little more now. I’m keeping it under wraps… though this time, more figuratively.”

“That doesn’t make things any better.”

“I know.”

The Drifter moved his hand from his face and looked at Nova.

“Why are you telling me this? Is it out of trust or something?”

“Yes, but I also need your help.”

“Here we go.”

The Warlock held out her arms, the chrome gauntlets reflecting purple light from the groove etched in it. The left one still had Taken goo on it from where she failed to scrub it well enough.

“You think you could make me something to channel this energy through? Something like…”

“My bank?”

The Voidwalker nodded. The Drifter rubbed his chin, looking disappointed but deep in thought.

“I could. Need your help though.”

“Whatever you need.”

After her fourth trip to the stars and leaving some Phaseglass in the Drifter’s hands, Nova retired to her lonely spot near the ramen shop in the Tower, resting on several crates. Her left gauntlet lay on the ground next to her, now satisfactorily clean. She examined her afflicted arm: black and spiny, though the spines and her fingers were a glowing teal that faded to glowing white tips. It twitched lightly.

“No smoke,” Scorpius chirped as he floated around to her arm. His Guardian hadn’t even noticed him until that moment. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Very.”

“But did you really need to lie to the Drifter?”

“I gave him the Motes he needed, and wanted. He doesn’t need to know about the rest.”

The Warlock recalled the earlier interaction with the Lightbearer, after he had given her a list of materials needed for their joint project. He seemed both surprised and betrayed after she had almost instantly given him the one hundred Motes of Dark he requested.

_“Hoarding Motes, huh?” he had asked, his eyes narrowing. “How many did you squander away?”_

_“A couple hundred—”_

_“Damnit Nova, you know I’m the one who needs the Motes! Whatcha need with all those anyway?”_

_The Warlock knew better than to give an honest answer this time. With a shrug, she gave up an extra two hundred and twenty-seven Motes._

_“That’s all I’ve got.”_

In the present, her Ghost sighed.

“Nova, you have several thousand Motes. Do you really need that many?”

She gave Scorpius an icy stare through her helmet. He did not falter.

“Sometimes I’ll need heavy firepower,” she answered, defeated.

“Trying to summon a Likeness of Oryx?”

“Hell no. Too dangerous. And too taxing.”

“A Primeval, then?”

“You’ll see it for yourself one day.”

Secretive. Even with her own Ghost. He seemed to roll his eye.

“We should check on Drifter’s handiwork.”

“Give it a minute, I gave him the last materials he needed not too long ago.”

“Which there was no need to go flying out for it either. You have a ton of planetary materials stashed away.”

“Yes, but those are mine, and I spent enough of those for Calus.”

“I just can’t win with you.”

Nova chuckled. She knew Sol would have said the same thing. He had always chided her for hoarding anything and everything. Her smile faltered, but she hid her sorrow from Scorpius. She’d rather not speak of the fallen Guardian. Or his whereabouts.

“Hmm, maybe I should go check on the Drifter now,” she said as she reached for her gauntlet and slipped it back on. “Hopefully I can help with the building process.”


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova and Scorpius return to the Cosmodrome yet again, but this time, Nova intends to share a dark secret with her Ghost.

The wind whipped the Voidwalker’s robes violently as snow billowed around her and her Ghost. The blizzard continued to obscure the object she was trying to inspect, so much so that she had had enough. She raised her right arm and it burst into flame, as did the rest of her body. The heat of the Solar Light allowed for a pocket of air and space to form around her, while rapidly melting the snow off of the bizarre horned helmet buried in the snow. Her Ghost floated down and scanned it, though he was forced to move aside when his Guardian reached down to pick it up.

“Is it what I think it is?”

“Felwinter’s Helm.”

The Warlock’s grip on the helmet tightened. She was troubled by this.

“How did this end up out here? This should have been locked away in that bunker with SIVA…”

“Are you implying something broke into the bunker?”

“Damnit. Likely another one of Eramis’ pets.”

“Eramis? Isn’t that the Baroness trying to lead the House of Devils now?”

“Not trying. Is.”

“Right. You think they’re trying to get their claws on SIVA again?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. Which means we’ll have to find a way to contain the situation, again.” The Warlock’s fingers glided along the helmet, heating up and burning away any red wires and black diamonds to clean it.

“Want me to transmat it into the Vault?”

“Please.”

In an instant, the helmet disappeared from the Guardian’s flaming hands. She held an arm out to melt the snow in front of her as the flames on her body billowed wildly in the wind.

“Can we get out of here now?”

“No. I came here for something else.”

“Why do we somehow always end up back here in the Cosmodrome?”

“Because a lot goes wrong here.”

“What happened this time?”

“...You’ll see.”

The Guardian continued forward towards the wall, her Solar Light only going out once in the safety of the concrete and metal of which the wall was composed.

“I would appreciate it if you could just tell me things for once.”

The Warlock sighed.

“Ok, fine. I… made a mistake.”

“What did you do?”

“I’d rather show you.”

“Why is it always the Warlocks who do these crazy things,” the Ghost muttered under his breath. His Guardian whipped around to face him faster than the wind outside, pointing a finger to his eye.

“Do NOT compare me to the likes of Toland and Osiris,” she spat bitterly. She wasn’t usually snappy. Her nerves must have been significantly rattled.

“Look, I just want to know what you did. Why don’t you ever tell me these things?”

The Warlock relaxed and lowered her arm as she exhaled deeply.

“It’s too much to explain without a visual. Besides, we’re almost there.”

“Did you find SIVA? Splicers?”

“I’d say worse.”

As the two passed through the wall and exited on the other side, the Ghost slowly began to understand. Blights of various sizes littered the area.

“Are the Taken here?”

“No. I planted those blights here.”

“Why?”

“To generate an army of Taken for myself, why else?”

“...Ok, so what’s the issue then?”

“It’s… what I Took.”

Sounds of clicking and chittering echoed around them. The Ghost instinctively moved closer to his Guardian.

“What was that?”

“One of my abominations.”

“Nova, explain. Please.”

The Warlock spread her arms in a motion to show off the room.

“I meant to Take any spare Devils that still crawled along these walls, so that SIVA wouldn’t be a threat. But I didn’t realize SIVA had come so close to this place.”

Something hissed in a dark corner. The Ghost turned to look at it, but he saw nothing.

“That doesn’t explain much…”

“Turns out I ended up making a lot of abominations, Scorpius.”

A black hand with glowing white and red claws emerged from the shadows. The Ghost recoiled with a horrified beeping noise as a Taken Dreg crawled out towards him and his Guardian. But it was no ordinary Taken. Its eye glowed white and red like its claws, but most notable were the red wires adorning its body. Black diamonds with glowing red grooves lined the wires, and emitted small clouds of red particles. SIVA mites.

“Please tell me you can control that thing!”

More Taken emerged from the pipes and girders. Shanks. Vandals. Captains. All were Taken, but modified with SIVA. The Dreg rose up on its spindly augmented legs and approached the Warlock, but she raised her left hand up. The Taken energy swirling in her gauntlet intensified. At once, the Taken all knelt or bowed before her as a sign of their servitude.

“Taken Splicers…” the Ghost remarked quietly. Under her helmet, the Warlock grimaced as she observed the creatures. But as she stared, her expression slowly twisted into a smile. A wide smile. All teeth.

“Mine to command.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, readers!  
> This piece was written at the very beginning of Season 10 as a sort of continuation/aftermath of the _Usurper_ series, but is not a part of it. While it has not been placed into a series itself, perhaps it will help set up a new one.  
> As usual, please enjoy and feel free to correct spelling/grammar + drop constructive criticism!


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